DOCOMO and NEC test O-RAN compliant 5G SA

NTT DOCOMO and NEC completed interoperability testing for 5G standalone (SA) using a 5G base station baseband unit (5G CU/DU) conforming to O-RAN open interface specifications and radio units (RUs) of different vendors.

The multi-vendor interoperability test used a software upgrade to introduce SA capability to NEC's 5G non-standalone (NSA) CU/DU operating on DOCOMO's commercial network. As a result, the system was transformed from a 5G NSA system into a 5G SA system using the same 5G CU/DU hardware. Since the 5G CU/DU can also accommodate existing NSA, the unit can be used to flexibly and quickly upgrade a 5G network.

The SA system enables network operators to flexibly provide services that take advantage of 5G features, such as eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband), mMTC (massive Machine Type Communication), and URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications), enabling support for the diverse demands of 5G, including the enhancement and sophistication of solutions for corporate customers.

Moving ahead, DOCOMO and NEC will continue to verify the performance of 5G CU/DU, and aim to introduce new units to DOCOMO's commercial network, resulting in expanded 5G coverage with sophisticated base station equipment that enables superior 5G service.

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2021/1202_00.html

NEC and Fujitsu collaborate on O-RAN testing

Wednesday, August 18, 2021  Fujitsu, NEC, O-RAN  

NEC and Fujitsu are collaborating on interoperability testing between 5G base station equipment conforming to O-RAN specifications.The initiative will be implemented as part of the "Post 5G Infrastructure Enhancement R&D Project" under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan. Through this initiative, NEC, Fujitsu, and NEDO will accelerate the global reach of base station equipment that conforms to...

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NEC and NTT Docomo develop RIC for Open RAN

Monday, June 21, 2021  NEC, NTT DOCOMO  

NEC Corporation and NTT DOCOMO are collaborating on the development of RAN Intelligent Controllers (RIC) in support of intelligent Radio Access Networks (RAN). RICS have the potential to reduce operating costs of RANs by automating base station settings. The companies expect that, in the future, the RIC control cycle will be advanced from slow control to fast control, and from the base station unit level to a user-based level of control. At...

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NTT DOCOMO selects Samsung as 5G supplier

Monday, March 22, 2021  5G, DOCOMO, Japan, Samsung  

NTT DOCOMO has selected Samsung Electronics as a 5G network solution provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.Samsung's range of solutions will include O-RAN-compliant solutions.“As a leading mobile operator, our goal is to provide our customers the best possible services for creating innovative, fun and exciting experiences and finding solutions to social issues,” said Sadayuki Abeta, General Manager of the Radio Access Network Development Department...

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DOCOMO commits to multivendor O-RAN for 4G/5G 

Wednesday, September 18, 2019  DOCOMO, O-RAN  

NTT DOCOMO has commenced deployment of a 4G/5G multivendor radio access network conforming to O-RAN specifications.

Working in collaboration with Fujitsu, NEC, and Nokia, DOCOMO has demonstrated multi-vendor interoperability across a variety of 4G and 5G base station equipment compatible with O-RAN. The O-RAN standards include fronthaul specifications and X2 profile specifications.

O-RAN fronthaul specifications are used to establish the connections between centralized units hosting baseband processing and remote units hosting radio processing in 5G remote-installed base stations. O-RAN fronthaul interface specifications provide a foundation for interoperability between centralized units and remote units of 5G remote-installed base stations manufactured by diverse partners.

The O-RAN X2 profile specifications provide a foundation for interoperability between 4G base stations and 5G base stations manufactured by diverse partners in 5G non-standalone (5G NSA) networks by taking 3GPP X2 interface specifications and specifying detailed standards for their usage. 5G NSA networks connect devices using both 4G and 5G technologies.

DOCOMO believes this represents the world's first realization of this level of multi-vendor interoperability in 4G and 5G base station equipment conforming to O-RAN specifications. The ability to deploy and interconnect base station equipment from different vendors will make it possible to select the equipment most suitable for deployment in any given environment, such as base stations offering broad coverage in rural areas or small base stations that can be deployed in urban areas where space is limited.

DOCOMO will deploy the equipment in the pre-commercial 5G service it plans to launch on September 20, 2019 in Japan.
https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2019/0918_00.html

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Citing competition concerns, FTC moves to block NVIDIA + ARM

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to block the $40 billion proposed acquisition of Arm Ltd. by Nvidia Corp.

The FTC vote was 4-0.

The FTC complaint states that the acquisition will harm competition in three worldwide markets in which Nvidia competes using Arm-based products:

• High-Level Advanced Driver Assistance Systems for passenger cars. These systems offer computer-assisted driving functions, such as automated lane changing, lane keeping, highway entrance and exit, and collision prevention;
• DPU SmartNICs, which are advanced networking products used to increase the security and efficiency of datacenter servers; and
• Arm-Based CPUs for Cloud Computing Service Providers. 

The complaint also alleges that the acquisition will harm competition by giving Nvidia access to the competitively sensitive information of Arm’s licensees, some of whom are Nvidia’s rivals, and that it is likely to decrease the incentive for Arm to pursue innovations that are perceived to conflict with Nvidia’s business interests.

“The FTC is suing to block the largest semiconductor chip merger in history to prevent a chip conglomerate from stifling the innovation pipeline for next-generation technologies,” said FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova. “Tomorrow’s technologies depend on preserving today’s competitive, cutting-edge chip markets. This proposed deal would distort Arm’s incentives in chip markets and allow the combined firm to unfairly undermine Nvidia’s rivals. The FTC’s lawsuit should send a strong signal that we will act aggressively to protect our critical infrastructure markets from illegal vertical mergers that have far-reaching and damaging effects on future innovations.”

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/12/ftc-sues-block-40-billion-semiconductor-chip-merger

NVIDIA to acquire ARM for $40 billion

Sunday, September 13, 2020  ARM, Mergers And Acquisitions, Nvidia  

 In a deal that will redefine the semiconductor market, NVIDIA agreed to acquire Arm Limited from Softbank for $40 billion. Under the deal, NVIDIA will pay to SoftBank a total of $21.5 billion in NVIDIA common stock and $12 billion in cash. NVIDIA will also issue $1.5 billion in equity to Arm employees. The deal does not include Arm’s IoT Services Group.

NVIDIA vowed to retain Arm's open-licensing model while maintaining the global customer neutrality that has been foundational to its success. NVIDIA also committed to retaining Arm's headquarters in Cambridge, UK.

SoftBank will retain a minority stake in NVIDIA, which is expected to be under 10%.

“AI is the most powerful technology force of our time and has launched a new wave of computing,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “In the years ahead, trillions of computers running AI will create a new internet-of-things that is thousands of times larger than today’s internet-of-people. Our combination will create a company fabulously positioned for the age of AI.

“Simon Segars and his team at Arm have built an extraordinary company that is contributing to nearly every technology market in the world. Uniting NVIDIA’s AI computing capabilities with the vast ecosystem of Arm’s CPU, we can advance computing from the cloud, smartphones, PCs, self-driving cars and robotics, to edge IoT, and expand AI computing to every corner of the globe.

“This combination has tremendous benefits for both companies, our customers, and the industry. For Arm’s ecosystem, the combination will turbocharge Arm’s R&D capacity and expand its IP portfolio with NVIDIA’s world-leading GPU and AI technology.

https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-to-acquire-arm-for-40-billion-creating-worlds-premier-computing-company-for-the-age-of-ai

NVIDIA acquires Mellanox - focus on Next Gen Data Centers

Monday, April 27, 2020  Mellanox, Mergers And Acquisitions, Nvidia  

NVIDIA completed its $7 billion acquisition of Mellanox Technologies. The deal was originally announced on March 11, 2019.

NVIDIA says that by combining its computing expertise with Mellanox’s high-performance networking technology, data center customers will achieve higher performance, greater utilization of computing resources and lower operating costs.

“The emergence of AI and data science, as well as billions of simultaneous computer users, is fueling skyrocketing demand on the world’s datacenters,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Addressing this demand will require holistic architectures that connect vast numbers of fast computing nodes over intelligent networking fabrics to form a giant datacenter-scale compute engine.

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Video: Network complexity requires a new level of intelligent automation

https://youtu.be/B9RdZ7iD_9A

Service Providers are challenged with complexity and technologies coming into deployment, such as network slicing, disaggregation, and virtualization of RAN infrastructure,  only add to the challenge

Here is a perspective from Santiago Rodriguez, Head of Strategic Projects, Lead of Intelligent Automation Platform, at Ericsson.

Ericsson's Intelligent Automation Platform runs rApps

Tuesday, November 16, 2021  Ericsson, O-RAN  

Ericsson launched its Intelligent Automation Platform and a suite of rApps as its next natural step for existing 4G and 5G radio access networks (RAN). 

The Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform is a service management and orchestration product that builds on the company's cloud native dual-mode 5G Core and the Cloud RAN portfolio, while also supporting multivendor RANs including purpose-built and Open RANs. The solution facilitates AI and automation, which improves network performance, operational efficiency and customer experience to help create smarter networks.

Ericsson said its new platform automates the radio access network using AI and radio network applications (rApps) with different functionalities. In a similar way to an operating system that automates operations, resources and identifies improvements to be made across the network, Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform includes a non-real-time RAN intelligent controller (Non-RT-RIC) that operates rApps. Ericsson is introducing a suite of rApps across four domains: efficient automated deployment; network healing; network evolution; and network optimization. The company is also introducing a software-development toolkit (SDK) to help operators and integrators to build their on rApps.

Jan Karlsson, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Digital Services, Ericsson, says: “We embrace the principle of openness and the evolution to open network architectures. Building upon our Cloud RAN offering, we are taking another major step towards building the network for the digital future with the launch of Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform, which fundamentally enables smarter mobile networks. We look forward to providing our customers with an open platform that enables operational efficiency, enhances customer experience and drives service innovation. I am happy to hear the reactions from our customers already being positive towards our new product and we look forward to future development and innovation.”

Neil McRae, MD Architecture & Strategy, BT Group Chief Architect, says: “At BT we connect for good and continuously innovate to provide the best services for our customers. As we expand and modernize building more reliable networks in more places, managing network complexity via automation is critical to ensure our customers best quality of experience.  I’m pleased to see that Ericsson is launching the Intelligent Automation Platform for automating networks, based on the O-RAN Alliance Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) concept. Ericsson’s vision to extend that SMO concept to support both Open RAN and existing 4G and 5G networks, using a single operational pane-of-glass is an innovative approach.”

https://www.ericsson.com/en/ran/intelligent-ran-automation/intelligent-automation-platform

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Verizon Business adds Cisco managed SD WAN services

Verizon Business has added Cisco managed SD WAN service, including options for 4G/5G connectivity, to its Network as a Service (NaaS) digitization portfolio.

The new solutions include:

• Managed Cisco SD WAN for the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms Family, and Integrated Services Router (ISR) 1000 and 4000 series, including management of the Cisco cellular Pluggable Interface Modules (PIM), and Cisco Catalyst Cellular Gateways. This new offer supports 4G and 5G cellular for gigabit connectivity to distributed cloud workloads. For a limited time, Verizon will provide customers one free Cisco Catalyst Cellular Gateway with each new Cisco SD WAN 3-year device license purchase.
• Verizon is delivering a Cisco SD WAN performance suite including Cisco Umbrella for cloud security, Duo for zero trust application access, and Thousand Eyes for network observability. This suite delivers the protection and visibility to enhance SD WAN security and performance while reducing customer costs.
• Cloud collaboration services with carrier-grade quality, reliability and security via Verizon’s fully private connection to Cisco Webex Calling and Webex Contact Center. Customers can capitalize on this private integration through wireline and wireless networks with Verizon Private IP and Verizon Wireless Private Network Traffic Management.

"In a hybrid work world, application performance and security are critical. We are committed to making it simpler for IT teams to deliver the best customer experiences,” said Todd Nightingale, EVP and GM, Enterprise Networking and Cloud, Cisco. “Verizon’s new Cisco managed SD WAN offer delivers cloud security and 5G capabilities, reduces complexity for customers, and enables private network connections to Cisco's Webex service cloud."

“Organizations are challenged with finding flexible and secure networking solutions that enable the rapid transition to hybrid cloud and hybrid work while maximizing application performance for their users,” said Massimo Peselli, senior vice president, Global Enterprise, Verizon Business. “The addition of these Cisco solutions builds on our longstanding history of co-innovation and provides customers with the agility and scalability to meet today’s needs while future-proofing their operations.”

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-business-cisco-enterprise-service-offerings

Verizon to deliver global SD-WAN for FM Logistic

Tuesday, November 23, 2021  SD-WAN, Verizon  

Verizon Business has been selected by FM Logistic, an international supplier of supply chain services with a strong customer base in the consumer goods, retail, cosmetic, industrial and health sectors. It employs more than 27,200 people.The secure SD WAN network will run across FM Logistic’s operations in 14 countries and is a fundamental part of the company’s growth and ongoing digital transformation.“With new digital applications on the horizon...

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Verizon Business adds Fortinet to its SD-WAN portfolio

Wednesday, October 27, 2021  #SD-WAN, Fortinet  

Verizon Business has added Fortinet Secure SD WAN to its global SD WAN offering.“The quick transition to hybrid and/or remote working models opened new avenues for cyber threat actors,” said Sampath Sowmyanarayan, Chief Revenue Officer for Verizon Business. “Solutions like Verizon’s Software Defined Secure Branch with Fortinet add those layers of security that help safeguard your employees, your business and ultimately your customers against cyberattacks.” Fortinet...

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Italy's TOP-IX Internet Exchange deploys Nokia 400GE IP

Italian Internet Exchange provider TOP-IX will deploy the Nokia 7250 Interconnect Router (IXR)-X1 platforms with 400GE network interfaces to expand and upgrade its network to offer high speed IP routing for interconnection, peering and access to cloud services. The routers will be deployed in TOP-IX locations to increase the geographical scale, reach and capacity of its services.

Nokia 7250 IXR platforms running the Service Router Operating System (SR OS) are purpose-built to deliver multi-terabit-scale interconnectivity within data centers and across WANs. They offer exceptional networking performance and reliability and will enable TOP-IX to meet increasing traffic and service demands as its networking needs grow and change.

Davide Calonico, President of TOP-IX, said: “We chose to make a significant investment in Nokia technology because it perfectly meets the requirements of our interconnection services on a geographically distributed platform. The new platform will allow us to introduce automation for the deployment of current services and all future services that may be enabled. In addition, it will ensure that we grow in terms of capacity in order to meet the increases in traffic expected in the near future.”

Manuel Ortiz Fernandez, Senior Vice President of EMEA Webscale business at Nokia, said: “TOP-IX is a major regional Internet Exchange Provider and is expanding its regional interconnection capabilities to meet the needs of its customers as they embrace digital and cloud technologies. We are pleased that TOP-IX has chosen Nokia 400GE IP routing technology to enhance its infrastructure to support the needs of businesses and consumers in the region.”

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SpaceX launches 48 more Starlink satellites

SpaceX launched a further 48 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral on a Falcon 9 rocket that previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, and five other Starlink missions.

The mission also carried two BlackSky imagining spacecraft. BlackSky operates a constellation of microsatellites that powers a global monitoring service combining artificial intelligence, cloud computing, multi-sensor data fusion, activity analysis, and autonomous satellite tasking.

http://www.spacex.com

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